Chad’s Morning Brief: With Duncan Officially at Texas Tech, The Campaigns Begin, Harry Reid Says Democrats Will Do Something About Hobby Lobby Case, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of July 8, 2014. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.

The Races Are On!

Robert Duncan officially took over as chancellor of the Texas Tech University System on Monday. That means the behind the scenes and sometimes right out in the open campaigns for HD-83 and SD-28 can "officially" begin.

Once Governor Rick Perry calls for a special election, most likely on November 4th, State Representative Charles Perry will pull his name off the ballot in order to run for Duncan's Senate seat. Opposing Perry will be Jodey Arrington and Wolfforth resident Eppie Garza. Arrington and Garza have already announced that they will run for the open seat. Former Lubbock City Councilman Todd Klein hasn't ruled out a campaign and neither has Texas Tech Board of Regent John Steinmetz.

Voters won't have a say on who replaces Charles Perry in HD-83. That is because it will be up to the Republican County chairs to name his replacement on the ballot. The behind-the-scenes campaigning for that appointment has been going on for a while. Some of the people who have voiced their interest in HD-83 include Dustin Burrows, Steve Massengale, and Delwin Jones among others.

Anything could happen and new names could always, and probably will, pop-up for both races.

Dems on Hobby Lobby Case

Harry Reid and other Democrats aren't too happy that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. According to POLITICO, Democrats are planning on doing something about it.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Democrats will take up legislation in the “coming weeks” to address last month’s Supreme Court decision that allowed some employers with religious objections to opt out of Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have overwhelmingly criticized the high court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case and are working to craft a response that would restore the coverage, though no specifics have yet been outlined.

“We’re going to do something about the Hobby Lobby legislation,” Reid said on the Senate floor Monday as he ticked off the Senate’s to-do list over the next several weeks.

Other priorities, Reid said, include replenishing the highway trust fund, taking up emergency funding for the unaccompanied minors crisis along the southern border, and renewing the charter for the Export-Import Bank.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the chamber, is taking the lead on the legislative response to the Hobby Lobby decision. And Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin has announced that he will introduce a measure that would require corporations now exempted from the Obamacare mandate to disclose their coverage policy to their employees and job applicants.

Other Top Stories:

Zheng Fired

10% of People Don't Pay Attention to Politics 

City Council Proposals for LP&L 

Lubbock City Council to Meet Thursday 

Abbott May Sue Administration 

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.